Added: 4 years ago
From: meandtaco
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  • this guy theft all melody from heaven !

  • David thank you for the gift of this arrangement. I was inspired to learn classical guitar after hearing this nearly 30 years ago now.

  • @JasonElGato I am happy to have been and inspiration. Ciao for now, David

  • David, I'd like to order the sheet music for this but I'm having some trouble with the website since I'm in the States. When I go to the cart it's all in Dutch (I think!). Can you help me? I'm also interested in the arm support. Brad You can contact me through my website, MercyMusic (dot) Org.

  • Thank you, David. Per-Olov Kindgren led me to your music and arrangement of this tune. God bless you and happy new year! Brad Richardson of Mercy Music International

  • @bradmercymusic Thank you very much! David

  • I bought Winter's Solstice many years ago and this was definitely one of my favorites. One of the few songs that make me wish I had actually learned to play an instrument

  • Breathtaking. Thank you so much for posting.

  • Beautiful

  • Thank you for bringing this masterpiece of music into the world. It haunted me over twenty years ago when I first heard it on cassette tape in college, and it still brings tears to my eyes every single time I hear it. I am finally able to play a somewhat passable version on the guitar.

    THank you again for your soulful music.

  • Thanks, I liked a lot your arrangement! It sounds very good :)

  • Lovely! Thanks for posting.

  • One of the most pleasing arrangements I've ever heard.

  • Simply beautifully played :)

  • Thank you ever so much David!! 22 years ago today I watched my beautiful bride march to this beautiful rendition, we played our Winter Solstice album. We tried to find a guitarist to play for us but no one would attempt it. We thought for years that it was 2 guitars and when we found your video were were awestruck that you performed this solo.... words cannot express our gratitude for the joy this recording has brought us over the years..... Bless you!

  • @backroadernb Hi and thank you for your comment. It is always nice to hear from those that enjoy my work. And nice to hear after 22 years you two are still together. Ciao for now, David

  • Amazing, beautiful. Very sweet version.

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  • Wow, this is an amazing version of one of the greatest classics...

    Congratulations! :)

  • eres un maestro te felicito

  • sehr schön, danke - Gottes Segen!!!

    LG Pilarfire

  • Dan, thanks! this was our wedding music nearly 49 years ago. Your version is a new blessing. All the best

  • You play it so clean, I envy your playing.

  • David, thanks for having a nicely tuned guitar.

    Thanks for being ad free, though I would wait if that became necessary.

    Guitars are amazing, but those that master them are more so.

    Good job!

  • David, ist this composition really just two pages long? I've just started learning it, and i'm barely past the first two rows, but still ...

  • Wonderful! I love it! you are master,

  • You threw a curved ball with the intro. But it was well worth it. Absolutely delicious and wished it wouldn't stop. Quint guitar is a new one to me.

  • Why did Beethoven get rid of his chickens…. Because they kept saying, “Bach, Bach, Bach” =D

  • beautiful. Also, you remind me of John Kramer.

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  • @justjay48 It is in standard tuning, except played on a quint guitar. The quint is tuned a 5th higher than a standard guitar. The B6 (bass string) is tuned down to A6. This is just the same as E6 tuned to D6 and the rest normal tuning. E-B-G-D-A-D. So it is standard except for the 6th string. dq

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  • @meandtaco I also like the piece very much and imitate the sound of the quint guitar by just taking a capo on the seventh fret of a normal guitar with E6 tuned to D6.

  • A great composer, a great guitarist and great music... Thank you..

  • Wonder if you remember a young guitarist from the army folk club circuit in Germany ? I was Bob Collard then in 1970 !...you may remember you stopped in to see me after I left the army when I was working in Woolworths (South Wales)....been a long time Dave...and you still play great...I even wrote an instrumental inspired by your playing I called it Quallified..Take care, regards Bob P.S. on youtube I`m Pat Collard (or Collardize)

  • The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.

    -- Johann Sebastian Bach

  • Divine Thank you David

  • i never felt the worlds beauty so deeply til i observed it through the perspective of this song.

  • @swamdono Many thanks! David

  • Thank you so much for putting this video on youtube. David Qualey's beautiful arrangement of this song really appeals to me. When I am feeling the stress of what the "holiday season" has become, a performance like this reminds me of the true meaning of Christmas. I sometimes play this song for my kids, just before the George Winson piano solo, "Joy," which was based on David Qualey's arrangement. Both are beautiful.

  • david,

    how are you tuned?

  • @booch1131 The quint guitar is normal tuning, but the 6th string (bass string) is tuned from B to A. One step lower. If you're playing it on a normal guitar that would mean that the E6 string would be tuned to D6 and the rest would be normal tuning.

  • very delightful piece I consider so lucky of hear it, I'm going to see all jour job ^^

    best wishes

  • well. that's about the best thing my admittedly not so experienced ears have heard in a long time. looking around like you don't have anything better to do while you're playing. I wanna be just like you. thank you.

  • Thank you so much for sharing that.

  • HEAVENLY! So beautiful! Thank you!

  • Every time I think 'yeah I am playing it pretty well now', I listen to this video and it kinda puts me back in my place lol.

  • I've had the Windham Hill CD for years. This is my favorite. I've never heard a guitar sound so beautiful.

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  • outstanding!!! neat!

  • I was just emailed the tabs. I think I gotta practice.

  • sounds similar to john williams cavatina. it's a very soothing rendition of bach's masterpiece.

  • beautiful. absolutely beautiful.

  • This piece by Bach has long been a favorite of mine. This variation is beautiful.

  • That's a beautifully done arrangement. I love your guitar. Is it a custom instrument?

  • @toker53 Yes, sort of. It is a quint guitar built by Cornelia Traudt. I love it! David

  • Any sheet music instead of TABS?  I hate TABS -.-

  • @XxStalkerxSasquachXx All of my music is written in notation, but there is also TAB.

  • I don't know what to say. The original song is one of my fav, but this arrangement is fantastic. I am not an expert, so I don't know how to explain it. I just feel that you 'shift /drag', so it becomes a bit strange from the original song, but yet it is so beautiful. I feel like I am lifted up, flying ... and it makes me cry. I'm your new fan.

  • @tonybarrowman many thanks! It is not really an arrangement but much more a fantasy with my own melodies and using part of Bach's melody. It really has little connection to Bach's work, but I think it has its own identity. Ciao for now, David

  • congratulations, that song almost made me cry

  • I will mail you 4 dollars if you send me the tab, please.

  • @quickisdeadly12 you can visit my website and buy the notation/TAB for less than $4... caio for now, d

  • astig!!!ang ganda!

  • When the CD first came out I bought it for myself and some others too for gifts, so I am an old fan. Very beautiful, always enjoy listening and hearing, the beauty comes through. Thank you.

  • Wonderfully played! I would like to find a place to order the sheet music for this piece in the US. Do you have a distributor here?

  • BELLISIMO , REALMENTE UNA ARREGLO VERDADERAMENTE HERMOSO.

    ERES UN GENIO QUE SE A ADELANTADO A NUESTROS TIEMPOS.

    BELLISIMO AMIGO.. NOS VEMOS !!!

  • Most beautiful version of this piece I have ever heard. I can't believe it took me this long to accidentally discover you on YouTube, but I am very glad I did.

    Sandy

  • Mycket fint!

    Very beautiful, listening a bright summernight in Sweden.

  • These tunes are very enthralling. Excellent arrangement. Bach would have loved it!

  • Beautifully re arraigned David...excellent command of tone...would love to see it published in Fingerstyle Guitar

  • beautiful

  • Very beautiful, congratulations!

  • Mycket fint!

    Very good!

    Beautiful!

  • My favourite version of this song...so soothing. it sounds like 2 guitars playing. 2million views can't be wrong.

  • really now....was the sunset necessary?

  • This song is truly amazing, i saw that loveable asian child prodigy playing it first. If i could play this i think i would fee a lot more relaxed in general. I can only play the normal version though lol. meandtaco, is that actually David Qualey? Because i agree with the comment which says you shoudl be more famous than you are. How long have you been playing? All you life?

  • It's just one of songs more beautiful that I've ever heard!!! Love...Love... Love!!!

  • Very beautifully played, excellent recording, thank you for sharing.

  • I'm going to go practice for several hours, I'll post a response in a couple years or so :) Beautiful piece, sir.

  • so amazing!

  • This is so beautiful. Congratulations.

  • Beautiful!

  • Muito Bom da vontade de assistir umas 1000 vezes .

  • This is the nicest and most thoughtful representation of this song I've heard. Lovely playing and great dynamics.

    Verdict:: Goes to Eleven

    :)

  • your brilliant mate!! Bravo!

  • Your version of this on Winter's Solstice is IMO the finest version of the most perfect song ever recorded. It has meant more to me than you can imagine. ... and I am an atheist so it was all earned praise.

  • Thank you very much. Music has the power to bring people together, no matter what their beliefs may be, and that is what makes it so special. Ciao for now, David

  • Bravo! what a beautiful piece.

  • Many thanks! David

  • NICE!!!!! I'm sure Bach would have loved it. The musicality, skill level and inventiveness here are just "off the charts".... Bravo!!!! But, why in the world is this awesome musician not far more famous than he apparently is??

  • Thank you very much. David

  • Most people do not appreciate "music" anymore. And what is sadder yet, Europe, where classical music was born, today, without synthesizers & samplers, the Europeans couldn't even make "music". I know every generations has their musical preferences/styles, but my god, it is just me, or has it really gone down hill in the last decade? What passes for music today is sickening. As far as vocalists, everything is pitch corrected. No talent needed. I don't know. Maybe i'm just getting old?

  • I share your sentiments regarding the past decade in particular: what is heard on the radio in the way of new music, is 95%+ trash!! But, i remain confident that there are still excellent, skilled, creative artists around which are just not getting much attention - there always have been, and hopefully always will be. It is my hope that the best of the creative music being produced now, will surface in the public's limelight at a later (hopefully sooner....) date!!!

  • @HolyMotherofGrid

    "There has been said a lot about musical geniuses lately. Within the current standards of the musical industry: a) Sell a lot of bad records, d) make one or two bad movies, and c) shake a lot of booty. Any two of the three will do"

    Anthony Kackson

  • @gjc82071 The music is still there, and there is a lot of it, though it is actually harder for talented musical composers to be recognized. Today, youth buy the music, and they want pretty faces with provoking pelvic gestures singing tunes rediscovered from the archives of the 60's 70's and 80's. Then there are those who cannot sing at all so they do rap. But if you look the talent is still there.

  • @HolyMotherofGrid because unfortunately the music industry today does not smile upon the inventive and talented. Fame is reserved for those who get really good at churning out formulaic, simplistic crap with the sole intent of selling sex to teenagers.

  • NICE!!!!! I'm sure Bach would have loved it. The musicality, skill level and inventiveness here are just "off the charts".... Bravo!!!!

  • Hey David,

    you are the very best!!! Thank you.

  • Many thanks, David

  • realmente bueno!!!

  • muchas gracias! david

  • What a wonderful arrangement!

    I just ordered the tabs from your website. This will be my next piece to learn, play and enjoy.

    Thank you.

  • Simply beautiful! Thank you for this.

  • Hey, I'm not sure if you read these comments David but i'd like to truely thank you for putting this amazing video on youtube. I had a short period of time in my life where I was very depressed for no apparant reason. At night I would play this nice and loud and just lie down and listen and it would just help me feel better. Thank you.

  • Thank you very much Conti15 for sharing this with me. It is especially nice for a musician to hear from someone who has been able to use the music for some positive effect. Thanks!

  • I'm very happy to hear you enjoy the piece so much. Being that I've only used a small portion of Bach's composition, and then taken great liberties with it, does make me wonder whether Bach would have liked it.  But that doesn't matter now. It is only important if listeners can enjoy it for what it is. Ciao for now, David

  • can you send me the tab???

  • You can actually buy a DVD in which he explains the whole piece. Check the infobox on the right side. You can find his homepage there!

    Best regards

  • yeah....

  • Amen! that was AMAZING!!!

  • ...jednoducho radosť pre dušu :-)

  • simply beautiful

  • the tabs, on your web page, are they made for a quint guitar, or classical guitar? I want to buy them, but i will not if they are for a quint guitar. I wouldn't know how to change them to classical guitar :(

  • beautfull.

  • Wow - ich blass vor Erstaunen und völlig hingerissen. WELTKLASSE !

  • so beautiful...

  • It is a beautiful piece of music accompanied by beautiful playing

  • This is wonderful!! thank you!!! =) very very nice

  • The most beautiful 'alternate' version fo this great masterpiece is this DQ performance. Thanks for sharing.

  • i would like to know what guitar it is you are playing in this video.

  • It is a quint guitar tuned a 5th higher than a normal guitar. The high 1st string is tuned to B.

  • I like this version much better than the original. Even when I play guitar, I love to play this one more

  • Thanks Kelly, David

  • how do you do that ?? ( I mean the background)

    pls tell me !!

  • It's done by filming in front of a green screen and then when you are editing the film you can replace the background with something else, either a film or a photo. Just look up "green screen" in the internet. Lots of information.

  • thank you for your response!!

    on the other hand , i tell you , your music is very nice , I began to listen your music when i couldn't sleep yesterday night, and then i can make dream very well !! (i hope u can understand my meaning , because my english is not good!!)

  • I understand you and I happy to hear that. D

  • What a lovely arrangement and beautifully played.

  • Unique.

  • wow, that was great

  • excellent

    bp

  • From one musician to another, wonderful job! I loved your chords, although I personally would have gone to the "vi" chord in the middle of the main theme but you decided to go to a "I" chord instead. (Hard to describe without staff paper, but the part that goes do re mi do re mi so fa fa la so so do ti DO so me do re me fa so la ....) where I did the caps is the chord I'm talking about. You should give a minor 6 chord a try there! :D

    But don't get me wrong, very very well done!

  • Why couldn't you just listen to this and enjoy it for its absolute beauty and purity, technique and mastery, instead of using it as a method to publicly demonstrate your desperate wish to be a musician? - see his snare solo on his page folks - it's a drum machine. It's a crime for this beautiful artist's page to be used or your self embiggening. A talentless oaf like you giving this man advice. Have some diginity and shhhhhhhhh....

  • Actually, the chord I talked about above was what Bach chose. And I still think it's a wonderful performance and arrangement. I never said otherwise.

  • Thanks guys! Please don't argue about what "could" be done with this arrangement. It is finished and it stands as it is and will probably never be "worked on" again. As I've said before, this is a very "free" fantasy on the theme and in no way is to be seen as an "arrangement" of the piece. I only use a small part of the "original" and even that I change as I felt "fit" my "fantasy". I enjoy it and I hope others can enjoy it for what it is. Ciao for now, David Q.

  • Thanks Chris for your "defense" of my piece. As long as there is more than 1 person on this planet we're going to have differing opinions. I enjoy it when others take the time to express their personal opinions, even if I sometimes may disagree. No need for any of you out there though to get upset about it. I appreciate your appreciation and all the best to you and family. Thanks. David

  • Quick question - on your webpage, you're wearing sort of half-nail-stick-on-nails - where did you get them from please David?

  • The arrangement is interesting and all, and I hear how you blend some other Bach melodies in there, but at heart I'm a Bach purist. The piece needs no rearranging. It's Bach's best! Ever! Nice work, though. :)

  • It is not an arrangement but a fantasy. Any piece of music can be experimented with, even Bach. Not because it "needs" to be changed, but only because he left it here for the rest of us to use and enjoy.

  • masterpiece

  • Thanks David. Got the DVD last week. Will begin working on it right away. Would like to get as much done by Christmas as possible, but it's a little above my level. I'll just have to work slowly measure by measure.

  • i still wanr to marry you!

  • David, how many proposals do you receive in a year's time? I've thought about sending you one too, but decided I can't bear to live in Germany again, so I'll just have to see you from time to time on Youtube.

  • well now that's a shame ;-))  BTW, I don't get very many proposals.

  • Nothing to explain. The notation/TAB is at least 99% the same and I doubt the 1% is very important. The fact that the YouTube recording is played on a Quint guitar tuned a 5th higher than a normal guitar means you will not be able to "play along" with the YouTube version. So you could put a capo on the 7th fret and then play the TAB and it would fit with the YouTube. I suggest people to use a cap on 5th fret

  • Yes sir! I have a question - great arrangement, btw. But is there a particular reason you suggest using the 5th fret? I actually prefer the sound on either the 7th fret or with no capo at all. Just curious!

  • No reason in particular except that the guitar then sounds a little more harp like, and also one of the stretches, a B on 7th fret 1st string and an E on the 2nd fret 6th string is a lot easier to reach and hold. I made the arrangement on an octave guitar which is just a bit bigger than a ukelele. David

  • Or you can play along with Eduardo Diaz?

  • What a masterpiece. That feeds my soul!

    Greentings from brasil!

  • Dear David,

    thank you very much for this wonderful arrangement!

    It will forever be the most important and most beautiful music for me.

    My husband Juergen played it hour for hour on his guitar while my son Simon died slowly & peaceful lying in my arms.

    All the best for you & thank you for your music.

    Michaele from Germany

  • I am very sorry to hear of your loss. To hear that my music helped you in some way during this time is very moving for me personally, and I appreciate you taking the time to write and share this with me. Also my thanks to Juergen for taking his time to learn the arrangement and for playing it for all of you. Alles liebe, David

  • Thank you for your warm & kind answer.

    Liebe & herzliche Grüße,

    Michaele

  • @MichaeleandSimon

    Das tut mir leid um euren Sohn, möge er für immer in euren Erinnerungen weiterleben.

  • @Dickstiel

    Vielen Dank für Dein Mitgefühl.

    Ja natürlich, er lebt und wird immer leben in uns. Er hat einen wichtigen und geehrten Platz in unserer Familie.

    Herzliche Grüße an alle, die das Stück von David mit mir lieben und für mich damit an Simon erinnern. Möge es oft gespielt werden. :-)

    Michaele

  • i adore this version

  • beautiful playing sir!! question...do you grow your fingertips longer on your right hand, to get that picking down easier?

  • habe es mir heute wieder angehört....und sofort waren diese goosebumps da... einfach toll, david.

  • es ist einfach zu warm für goosebumps ;-)) Schön wenn es dir gefällt. DQ

  • Absolutely beautiful David. From one fellow guitarist to another. Thanks for sharing that with us. I want to learn to play it on my 5-string banjo.

  • Now I would love to hear your rendition on the 5-string banjo. I also have one after 45 years of waiting. D

  • This was played on the piano when I walked down the aisle. This is a very pretty piece.

  • I Also want this as my wedding march..

  • Special=)

  • thats a tiny guitar!

  • David

    Beautiful!

    I really enjoyed this arrangement. I now have your music and hope to play it at my next classical guitar recital. It will be such a pleasant surprise to my fellow students.

  • Many thanks! Would love to hear what your students have to say about your rendition. Ciao for now, David

  • Hi David, I read your autobiography, the life of a musician is hard and I have heaps of respect for you. You deserve every succes that comes your way! I hope you reach all your upcoming music ambitions, but I must say that I really like your compositions like this one. This must be the best Jesu composition I have ever heard. Good luck to you and thanks for posting this video, it's great!

  • Beautiful David, you make it look easy. Perfect fluidity (if there is such a word).

  • Thank you. It really isn't very hard, and I think there is a "fluidity"... ciao for now, David

  • Beautiful! It makes you want to smile and cry at the same time, Truley bittersweet. You are very talented, keep up the wonderful work!!

  • Many thanks for your response.  I would prefer you smile rather than cry... ciao for now, David